View Full Version : a young 'uns newbie queries...
NutteesArosa
03-09-2001, 11:31
helloo!!
wow!! finally found a pretty cool Seat site online!! didn't think they existed! now we got somewhere to ask our silly questions.. hehe! yay! http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/smile.gif
umm i been lucky enough to have been driving around a 16v Arosa for the past 9 months now and for the life of me cannot figure out how to change them lil speakers in the dashboard... really don't wanna ruin the surface by scratching around with a screwdriver so i was wondering if anyone out there could help?!
also has anyone tried fitting rear speakers to their arosa's? ...where?!?!!
also feel like about time to start tinkering with the wheels and like since as much as i love the perky lil engine, cornering on the arosa is not so sharp so although i will eventually be heading to a wheel fitting shop is there anyone that could offer any tips on a recommended wheel/tyre size combo allowing in mind that i would also like to lower the car with better suspensions if possible... i was thinking maybe 16inchers with 195/45/16 tyres.... whadja think?! too big? http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/rolleyes.gif
any help would be appreciated!
thanks!
bob
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My car goes vroom vroom..
The ones in the dash are tweeters mate, you wann leave em as they are plenty good enough. The ones you wanna replace are the ones in the doors. As for the rears, forget the 6x4s in the mounts and slap a pair of 6x9's in the parcel shelf.
Wheels and suspension, hmm your best off contacting John @ www.sjbsport.co.uk, (http://www.sjbsport.co.uk) he'll tell ya what'd be best to slap on your little mean machine.
Cheers
Martyn
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http://www.seatdriversclub.co.uk
[Message edited by Martyn on 05 September 2001.]
[Message edited by Martyn on 05 September 2001.]
[Message edited by Martyn on 05 September 2001.]
[Message edited by Martyn on 05 September 2001.]
cordobabrendy
09-09-2001, 15:10
TRUST ME ON THIS ONE, 195 45'S ARE WAY TOO EXPENSIVE, GO FOR 15'S
THE 16'S COME STANDARD N MY CORDOBA 2.0 16V AND LAST TIME I CHECKED IT WAS 100 SHEETS PER TYRE FOR THE MICHELINS
AND 55 FOR THE YOKOHAMA A539 BUT THAT WAS ON OFFER, 6 K MILES AND TIME FOR NEW YOKOS OR MIGHT GO BACK TO MICHELINS, DUNNO YET!!
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NutteesArosa
09-09-2001, 20:37
thanks for the tips people! will take all into consideration...
looks like i'm heading towards some 15inchers and a lowering kit then!
didn't even notice any rear speaker mounts while i was poking around in the back of the car... and i was considering some 6x9 on the shelf but it looked too small...?
(i could only just fit the same size into the back of me old cinquecento a coupla yrs ago... i like small cars!)
looks like i'm gonna have to dig the old jigsaw out and start fitting!
thanks again!
bob
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My car goes vroom vroom..
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by NutteesArosa:
... and i was considering some 6x9 on the shelf but it looked too small...?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
lol, you've goto be kidding, my mates managed to squeeze some 6x9's into the parcel shelf (if you can call it that) of his mini http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/biggrin.gif
Cheers
Martyn
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http://www.seatdriversclub.co.uk
colinarthur
10-09-2001, 02:01
Hi there!
I agree - leave the speakers in the dash alone - concentrate on squeezing (squeezing being the operative word!) 6x9's and a 12" sub in the boot.
(BTW something I have wondered is why there is only one speaker mounted in the door panels - behind the trim on the driver side there is room for a speaker, but it's empty on my '99 V Arosa S)
6x9's will fit in the space between the back of the seats and the tailgate when shut -- but you will need to make your own parcel shelf. (Cutting away at the corugated sections of mine made it too flimsy to support the weight of my Kenwood 6x9's - so get a jigsaw, couple of sheets of MDF, and some speaker carpet).
I also think you should go for 15's -- I have 195/50/15 Momo Arrow's on mine which fit nicely with no modifications. I know someone with 16's on an Arosa - they don't rub or anything - but as the bloke says, it depends how much you want to spend on tyres.
HTH
Cheers!
Colin
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http://www.colinarthur.net
Well Bob,
About those wheels, my arosa has got 7x16" alloys with 195/45 tyres and it's lowered by 35mm and has no problems. Other mods i've done are full seat body kit, exhaust backbox and induction kit from Jetex.
The car looks great, but I would like to get some new rear light clusters to finish it off.
If anyone can help then please e-mail me on arousa@maxpower.co.uk http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/smile.gif
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rear lights idea ???
newest arosa has CLEAR lenses with seperate lamps inside, early version with RED background , newest ones have BLACK , looks well ferkin smart http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/biggrin.gif
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ps , i usually sell michelins 195/45/16 for £80ish i think ???
DAZ the AMETHYST parts manager ( flapper@seatcupra.net )
(refreshing the PARTS most other dealers cannot reach)
[Message edited by flapper on 24 September 2001.]
René_Germany
26-09-2001, 19:44
Hi Bob!
I hope, that my english is good enough to understand what i mean!?
In my opinion forget the back speakers. Put HighClass Speakers into the front doors thats enough! Put into an 12" woofer and for more you can put in more speakers in the doors by building doorboards!
The car is so small, speakers in the back are not so possible, if the front speakers are good enough (maybe in fusion with an Amp!), Front Staging is the Key!
I hope you dont understand this ist the only way to music, so i say, its my own opinion!
Go on with the wheels! I think 15" are enough, with 195/45 ore 195/50. In my opinion 16" looking not so good in fusion with lowering the Arosa!
So, I hope that my english is not soo bad!
So long, René from Germany
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NutteesArosa
14-10-2001, 13:13
man just when i thought i'd decided proper on what wheels i'm gonna get some more really great considerations come up!! guess i'm just gonna haul my lazy butt down the shop and just see what size i like for myself! :cool:
all the pics i found online don't really show how clear the differences between the wheel sizes are.. hmph!
but thanks for all the advice people! your english is fine René! however having heard the difference that rear speakers can make in my old cinquecento i think that they are a must for total immersion in sound.
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ok so wheels are still several months away (not enough money!) so i can still play around on that idea but the good news is that i know exactly what i'm gonna do with the speakers!
gonna do exactly what Colin Arthur says and cut some MDF and mount some big'uns on there. however i already got a cd changer in the boot which cut the space down there down to about ..half.. now if i put a stonking great 12inch sub in there i'm gonna have no bootspace at all! need at least some space for like 2 tesco bags!! heehee!
i was looking at bass tubes and the 8 inch Bazooka EL8A-hp (http://www.epinions.com/elec_Car_Stereo_Speakers-Subwoofers-Bazooka_BazookaELProductFamilyily-Bazooka_EL8A-hp) looks pretty good..?
bass with bootspace?! possible!?
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oh and i just took a look at your site Colin (wow!) but i think i'm tending towards the advice of John at SJBsport (thanks Martyn!) and stick some 16inchers on. just need to save up a lil longer!
thanks for everything everybody! keep the suggestions coming!!
dont bother with a tube , unless you drive a 2 seater porsche
never seem to give as good as box in my opinion
to be honest , with it being a small cabin , go for an 8" in a box
considering the 8"s are cheaper usually go up the scale and get GOOD quality one then :p
little tip "DYNAMAT"
use as much as you can as most of the arosa interior is painted STEEL , not much trim so to speak , soild i agree but it will transfer all the waves direct to a panel .
last bass car i did (ASTRA) dont laugh , NOT MINE
we ran it all afternoon and noticed the spotwelds on the tailgate mountings were spliitin , DAMN
2 cerwin vegas in boot floor , couldnt appreciate it unless you were 100m away POINTLESS if you ask me , a severe case but proves , LESS can sometimes mean MORE
Minty Man
24-10-2001, 14:23
i have a custom made shelf for the arosa with holes for 6x9's, if your interested ?
NutteesArosa
29-10-2001, 22:53
thanks for the tips flapper! (i'm doing a lot of thanks in this thread! :rolleyes: )
hehe, being a total newbie i went 'DYNAwhat?!'
but then i went to their website and all was explained...
however i'm assuming you mean just basically cover as much of the boot as i can with the stuff yea?! and not use as much of it as possible all over the car?!
hmm... good quality 8 inch box... any suggestions on where to start looking?!:p
cover it all if you are gonna get serious , mind you tail gate and rear 1/4's for a start , then anything that rattles after that :D
as for reccomendations , ive used a decent USA kicker 8" in a kicker box , sounded pretty good , CALIBER be worth a listen ??
depends on ya sound pref etc , have a shop around with a CD of your own in ya pocket ;)
davegeorge
02-11-2001, 19:13
Just my opinion guys but dont bother with 6x9 speakers, jack of all trades master of none is the phrase i would use, get good components up front with high quality amps, small 8 inch subs which are good dont overlook JL audio 8w6's, best ive ever heard but expensive and need big power, also think 16 inch wheels is way to go, afterall its fundamentally a german car and if you have the space for the wheels.......
im gonna install my sound system and will be using JL audio coax up front and 1x Boston Pro 10 inch in the rear, all driven of Caliber amps with Alpine CDMAX cd player, will let you know how it sounds when all installed as i reckon it will be quite good in a small car.
any advice for me on where to route heavy gauge power cable etc??
cheers
Dave
Minty Man
05-11-2001, 17:36
On the arosa, the trim by the side of the seats is really easy to remove, just pull! id personally put the cables behind the carpet right at the bottom, remember tho to keep the RCA's and power leads seperate from each other, it may cause interference! I learnt the hard way! My arosa sounded really good when i had it, the accoustics were great, didnt use nor need any dynomat tho, should improve things a little. Should sound really good, let us know! (Dont forget if you can to securly fasten the cables behind the dash, they can rattle like a sod if you dont!)
davegeorge
05-11-2001, 18:56
cheers mate, will let all know when its installed. I will run power down passenger side and all other up centre or drivers side,
dave
NutteesArosa
10-11-2001, 14:32
just for anyone who's interested thought i'd let you guys know on what i've (FINALLY) decided to do:
firstly, thanks for the offer of the parcel shelf Minty but seeing how i haven't touched a piece of MDF since my days in DT classes in secondary school i thought it'd be pretty fun to try my hand at it!
Result? I now have a garage caked in sawdust but a rather natty stealth shelf thing that fits kinda snug..! :cool:
ordered a set of Pioneer 4-way 6x9s from caraudiodirect.com and also checked out their really handy forums and picked up a good set of tips on sound deadening and the like.
incidently, i found that the door speakers are riveted in so leaving them well alone but apparently applying a bunch of sound deadening pads/foam/tape around that poddy area will improve the response no end! Will be doing that then!
now with everything finally getting somewhere i just gotta finalize my decision on a sub!
I wasn't really looking for anything outstanding, just a good, tight and solid kinda bass would do me fine and also being both lazy, poor and really tight for space I'm gonna go for my original choice of the 8" bazooka bass tube... (braces for a whole load of disapproving tsks)
...original plan was to get a polk 8" sub and hide an amp under one of the rear storage bins (looooaaaadsa room under them! but the only bits of free space i could find) but costs and hassle got the better of me! hehe! ah well!
hmm... thats about everything that i can think of right now... look fwd to hearin opinions/slaggings about bass tubes and how you shouldn't mix woofers with 6x9's and the like! hehe!
oh! guess that i should point out that my head unit has a sub-out feature and so i can control the sub level and also low and high level passes just in case the bass does get muddled in practise.
ooh! and i got so into my MDF shaping skills that i stuck a little screwdriver compartment underneath it just because i could! hehe!
finally, to make sure i can still take off the parcel shelf i researched into speaker connectors and the only things i could come up with are these things called Neutrik Speaker Connectors, however, the buggers are £12 at maplin.co.uk but they also do similar looking things called Speakon Connectors for about half the price? Does anyone know the difference between the two??! Looking at other forums people seem to say that the Speakon version'll do?
*sigh* it never ends!
Bob.
PS.. Hehe... and after xmas... 16inch Kosei Snipers on a set of Toyo T1-S... Mmmmm.... hopely! :p
So i will start with the Tsks for you then!!:D
TSK TSK TSK !!
Three should do it!
But you really should look into getting an 8" speaker in a proper enclosure, the subs used in the bass tubes are usually such naff quality that if you were to buy the speaker on its own it would probably only cost £3 !!!,
Have a look around on the auctions and see what you can find secondhand, there are usually quite a lot to choose from on there!
davegeorge
10-11-2001, 21:16
Not sure about the speakon connectors mate but make sure you dont buy bass tubes.....everybody is right insaying they are a convienient but poor solution to getting bass into your car.
with your 6x9's you already will have bass....so get a good 10 inch driver and add SUB bass to your system, try not to have both the sub and the 6x9,s playing the same frequencys or you will just get boomy overpowering bass.
eg: my Boston 10 (when installed) plays from 20HZ upwards and starts rolling off at 50HZ, my JL front speakers start rolling off at 90HZ so they meet each other nicely somewhere around 75HZ, you get the idea??
a bass tube will only really give you the bass that your 6x9's are giving and you can imagine the result.
dave
(ps best bass ive ever heard was 3 X 8 inch JL audio subs in a small box in a 106 GTI)
NutteesArosa
10-11-2001, 22:03
hehe! okok!!
well actually after staring at that big hunka 'wasted' space underneath them storage bins all afternoon i figured with my newfound mdf skills i should be able to squeeze a small amp in there at the sacrifice of one less cubbyhole out the three (?!) that i have altogether... teeny amps!
and then coming back online to find yet ANOTHER advisory against the tube i think you guys finally turned me! :p
hmm.. looks like i'll be looking at that 8" polk again and also getting deep into research about box designs..
having already suffered 2 punctures this year (never drive behind a furniture van with its doors tied open, and beware my lil sis and her curb-riding habits) i'm very adamant that i still need access to the spare wheel compartment.
whats the smallest bass enclosure that i can try?!
i'm getting there... slowly but surely...
yet again.. thanks for all the help guys!
(ps if you ever see a 16v Arosa with L-plates in the Worcester Park/New Malden area... that'll be my lil sis learning to drive in my car... oh yes, i'm very scared! :( )
NutteesArosa
10-11-2001, 22:22
actually thinking about it some more would it be possible to fit an amp under the cubby bit of one side of the car and then the sub under the cubby bit of the other side of the car?!
too complex?! or just not enough damn space?!!
really don't wanna lose that boot!
davegeorge
11-11-2001, 12:56
well my 10 is in a half cubic ft box which is small.....but will still take up a lot of boot space in the Arosa, ive been considering getting a professional car stereo installer to try and get the sub installed in the front passenger footwell, this is what they do in the lotus elise, if the enclosure is small enough you barely lose any foot space but get the benefit of your subbass coming from in front of you. im going to get some quotes i think cause im just not prepared to start messing with the fibreglass and expandable foam yet!!
dave
Just thought Id let you know what I have in my Arosa :
Sony 4 x 50W head unit
Original speakers in the front
Kenwood 4 way 6x9s in the parcel shelf
Sony 10" Active Sub in the boot
I love the sound that it makes having a smallish sub and some 6x9s in and Ive never had anyone else in my car who didnt appreciate the quality of the sound that comes out of it all so I wouldnt personally pay any attention to anyone who says not to go for that type of setup.
davegeorge
12-11-2001, 18:21
Well thats ok cause its all down to personal taste, the idea of a stereo set up though is to try and get the sound coming from in front of you, something you will never achieve with 6x9 shelf speakers, they always tend to drown out the other speakers in the car and usually are a compromise, the best set ups ive heard almost always use tweeter and midrange up front with sub in the boot, you can get the sub to integrate well so you dont hear it but feel it like your supposed to, as long as you use good amps/EQ's etc.
The only thing i disagree with is people who buy 6x9's because they give good bass and then go buy a sub aswell, you then have two speakers producing the same sound??
Dave
Alpine 7939R
Phoenix Gold PLD1
Phoenix gold EQ215IX
Phoenix gold BASS CUBE
Caliber Ca120 AMP x 2
Boston Pro 10
JL Audio XR525 cx
Lightning audio power cap
You let your little sister learn to drive in your 16v!? :eek:
Rather you than me...
BTW, roughly how much is that in terms of insurance?